Prepayment gas-meter.



W. L. BROWN.

PREPAYMENT GAS METER. APPLICATION FILED MAYIO. I915.

Patented July 17, 1917.

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PREPAYMENT GAS METER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY10.I915- Patented July 17, 1917.

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ffimom W. L. BROWN.

PREPA-YMENT GAS METER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY H1. 1915.

LQ33Q3UYQ Patented July 17, 1917.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3 v \Wmmm- W .p a 1 WILLIAM LAIRD BROWN OF LANSIDOWNE,PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR T WILLIAM E. HELME AND JOHN McILI-IENNY, TRADING AS FIRM OF HELIVIE AND MoILI-IENNY,

OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

raEPAYMEu'r, GfAssME'rER.

Specification ofi L V 4; are.

Patented July 1'7, 1917.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM LAIRD BROWN, a citizen of the United States, residin at Lansdowne, county of Delaware, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Prepayment Gas-Meters, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to prepayment gas meters'in which the'opening of a valve controlling the passage of gas is permitted upon the insertion of one or more coins and in which the closing of the valve is effected by the operation of the meter mechanism, the relation of these two movements being such that the value of the gas delivered, at current rates, is equal to the value of the coin or coins inserted.

The object of my invention is to provide new and improved means to actuate the valve in both closing and opening; to indicate the amount of unconsumed gas standing at any time to the credit of the consumer; to effect the jamming of the coin controlled mechanism, without rupture of the driving connections from the meter mechanism, in such manner as, under ordinary conditions, to close the valve tightly in the event of slight leakage around the valve when the latter is closed at the end of normal movement of the mechanism actuated by the meter; to prevent jamming of the movable carriage relative to the coin controlled shaft when said carriage is moved to its extreme position at the end of its manually efifected actuation; and to avoid strain on the index mechanism.

A preferred embodiment of the invention accomplishing the foregoing objects is shown in the which- A Figure l'is a plan view of a gas meter accompanying drawings, in

known commercially as the Simplex-pre payment meter, with the cover removed. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the mechanlsm shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a partial front view of the meter. Fig. 4: a section on the line44: of Fig. 1. Fig; 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1; Fig.6 is an enlarged detail sectional viewof" the jam ming means for the valve-opening shaft. p The gas meter has an inleta through which gas enters valve chamber 6, from which the gas passes to the meter through port 0 under control of valve d carried by arm 6 on rock shaft f, which turns in bearlngs in valve chamber 6 and in a standard 9 on table 5.

Slidable and turnable in standard 9 is a reoiprocatorycarriage j into which is axially threaded a manually operated valve open- 111g shaft m. Carriage j has a peripheral groove 70 adjoining a head Z. Head Z is adapted, when the carriage is moved to the starting end. of its movement, to engage a cutoff arm 2' on rock shaft f and thereby swing valve d to its closed position, groove k permitting arm 73 to swing into position to so rock the shaft f.

Shaft m extends through the wall of the meter into a chamber a, in which is a set of reduction gears connecting shaft on with a shaft which is adapted, when rendered operative by a coin, tobe turned by hand so as to impart several rotations to shaft m, and thereby move carriage j so as to cause its head Z to 'recede from arm 71, thereby causing the surface of the disk beyond groove is to swing arm 71 into position to open valve 03. The coin-controlled mechanism within chamber a is not shown, as it forms no part of my invention, and may be of any of the known constructions. Preferably I employ the coincontrolled mechanism which is the subject of a separate application for patent, Serial No. 843,7 85.

A gas-driven valve-closing shaft 0, axially alined withvalveopening shaft m, is of' non-circular cross-section and slides within an axial orifice of similar cross-section in an end head 7" on carriage j, whereby carriage y' is slidable relatively to shaft m but turns therewith.

The head Z of carriage j has a peripheral groove within which is held one end of an arm p which extends through a slot in the gallery of the meter and carries a pointer 1" adapted to move, with carriage j, along a scale 3, thereby indicating on the outside of the meter the amount of gas to the con sumers credit at any time.

Preferably shaft m is of such length as to permit the coin-inserting and manual shaftturning operation to be repeated a number of times consecutively so as to adjust the.

meter for-permitting a consumption of gas mally does, cut off the flow of. gas through.

corresponding to the total'value 'of the coins deposited. In the event that the maximum number of coinsfor which themachine provides is deposited, it is desirable to prevent carriage from binding against a head or collar tinte'gral with shaft m. This is accomplished by means of a wire or pin it which projects from the wall of valve chamber 19 in front of collar j at an angle slightly oblique to the plane of the radii of shaft m, whereby carriage 7', in the extreme position specified, will engage 'pin a and thereby avoid the frictional looking with collar that might otherwise occur.

A horizontal axle a) transmits the motion of the meter mechanism (which may be of any known type and need not therefore be described) to the index mechanism 4) which exhibits a record ofc'ubic'feet of consumption that may be read from the outside of the meter. Axle 0 drives shaft 0 by a worm w and worm wheel '90. One end of axle Q) turns in a bearing in a standard 3 The other end, which drives the main shaft of the index mechan'ism, bears against a bracket 2 whose opposite ends are fastened to the table it and to the gallery 9. Mem

her .2 sustains the end thrust of axle 'o. in the valve closing movement, as hereinafter more particularly described. I Although valve d is intended to, and northe meter whenforced down upon its seat,

if, for any reason, the valve permits gas to pass when thus seated, the continued action of the meter mechanism,inasmuch as it cannot effect any further movement of carriage v j along shaft m, tends to turn shaft m and the coin controlled mechanism positively connected therewith as if it were manually operated. It is important to prevent this, in

'order that gas may not be delivered for which payment has not been made.

threads of shaft m are therefore so inclined,

and said shaft turns in its valve closing movement in such a direct on, as to produce from turning. This jammingv actionis madev V stronger by the fact that the head t of shaft m bears against the end 25 0f the stufling boxthrough which it extends on acomparatively narrow rim on its outer circumference (see Fig. 6) so that friction exerted on said I'lIIl may have' as great a resisting momentas possible. The coin controlled mechto stopthe leak...

sure between valve and seat, thus tending' If, however, the of suchanature that no pressure within the limit of strength The As hereinbefore stated, axle '1) in driving worm wheel a", is thrust toward the bearing 2. The connection of the main shaft of the index mechanism with axle U is such that the axle turns the shaft but is capable of a slight axial sliding movement relative thereto, so that'the end thrust of the axle is not transmitted to the index mechanism.

Having now fully described my invention, whatI claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. In a prepayment gas meter, in combination, a manually turnable valve-opening shaft, a carriage threaded thereon, gasdriven mechanism including a shaft of noncircular cross-section axially alined with said valve-opening shaft and engaging a cooperating opening in the carriage and thereby adapted to turn the carriage and feed it along said shaft, a valve controlling the passage of gas, a member connected with and adapted to operate the valve, and means on the carriage adapted to turn independently of said member but adapted in the axial movement of the carriage to engage and actuate the first member and thereby acshaft, a carriage threaded thereon, gas

driven mechanism adapted to turn the carriage and thereby feed it along said shaft, a gas-control valve, means operable from the carriage to close the valve, and an abutment, the thread on said shaft being of such 7 pitch and turning in such direction that the axial thrust imparted by the carriage thereto after frictional engagement of the shaft with the abutment prevents said shaft from being turned by said carriage after the latter has reached its valve-closing position, whereby further turning of the carriage necessarily effects aftight'er closure of the valve. I

I3. In a prepayment gas meter, in combination, a manually turnable valve-opening shaft, a carriage threaded thereon, gasd 'iven mechanism adapted to turn the carriage and thereby feed it along said shaft, a gas-control valve, means operable from the carriage to close the valve, a head on saidshaft, and an abutment, one of the two last named members having a rim projecting toward the other member and adapted to be friotionally engaged thereby in the event of turning of said shaft at the end of the valve-closing movement of the carriage.

4. In a prepayment gas meter, in combination, a manually turnable valve-opening shaft, a carriage threaded thereon, gas driven mechanism adapted to turn the carriage and thereby feed it along said shaft, a head on the shaft, and means interposed between said shaft and carriage adapted to prevent a binding engagement between them at the end of the manually operable turning movement of said shaft.

5. In a prepayment gas meter, in combination, a manually turnable valve-opening shaft, a carriage threaded thereon, gas driven mechanism adapted to turn the car riage and thereby feed it along said shaft, a head on said shaft, and a pin projecting in front of said head and adapted to be engaged by said carriage to limit the movement of the carriage in the manually operable turning movement of the shaft.

6. In a prepayment gas meter, in combination, a manually turnable valve-opening shaft, a carriage threaded thereon, gasdriven mechanism adapted to turn the carriage and thereby feed it along said shaft, a head on said shaft, and a pin projecting in front of said head in a direction slightly inclined 'to a plane at right angles to the axis of the shaft and adapted to be engaged by said carriage to limit the movement of the carriage in the manually operable turning movement of the shaft.

7 In a prepayment gas meter, in combination, a manually turnable valve-opening shaft, a carriage threaded thereon, a gasdriven valve-closing shaft connected to the carriage so as to turn the same and slide relatively thereto, a worm-wheel on the valve closing shaft, a gas-driven axle, a worm thereon driving said worm-wheel, index mechanism, including a shaft connected to said axle so as to turn therewith while permitting a longitudinal movement of the axle, and a bearing independent of the index mechanism adapted to receive the end thrust of the axle.

8. In a prepayment gas meter, in combination, a gas-driven valve-closing shaft, a worm-wheel on said shaft, a gas-driven axle, a worm thereon driving said worm-wheel, the supporting table, the gallery, index mechanism back of the gallery and including a shaft connected to said axle so as to turn therewith while permitting a longitudinal movement of the axle, and a bearing for the axle extending between the table and gallery and adapted to receive the end thrust of the axle.

9. In a prepayment gas meter, in combination, a manually turnable valve-opening shaft, a carriage threaded thereon, a gas driven valve-closing shaft connected to the carriage so as to turn the same and slide relatively thereto, a worm-wheel on the valve-closing shaft, a frangible connection between said worm wheel and valve-closing shaft, a gas driven axle, and a worm thereon driving the worm wheel.

10. In a prepayment gas meter, in combination, a manually turnable valve-opening shaft, a carriage threaded thereon, a head at one end of the carriage having a noncircular hole, a gas driven valve-closing shaft of corresponding non-circular crosssection extending through the hole in said end head and an abutment adapted to frictionally arrest a turning movement of the valve-opening shaft imparted by the gas driven shaft and carriage after the latter reaches its valve-closing position.

In testimony of which invention, I have hereunto set my hand, at Philadelphia, on this eighth day of May, 1915.

WILLIAM LAIRD BROWN.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM BROWN, EMELIE 0. BROWN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0. I 

